The Aesthetic Ramifications of Detroit's Gambling Addiction

by Sarah Cox

With Detroit teetering on the edge of insolvency, one can't help but think about those tax-generating engines that prevented all this from happening a decade ago, Detroit's casinos. They've been a part of life here for nearly two decades now, if you count the planning and the mishaps [[Rivertown, anyone?), but the permanent casinos and hotels are now an indelible part of Detroit's architectural landscape. Now casinos are showplaces intended to inspire excessive spending, not to elevate the built environment, but let's examine the merits of Detroit's three casinos anyway.

Greektown Casino, designed by Rossetti Associates, is unique in the way it is integrated into an existing commercial district. To its credit, it has kept the streetscape more or less intact and has integrated existing buildings [[hi Trapper's Alley!). The massive newly-constructed brick-clad casino and parking deck dominate the eastern part of the neighborhood, avoiding degradation of the pedestrian experience in Greektown proper. But in a classic example of contextual architecture gone wrong, these new buildings provide exactly zero architectural interest.

Continued at: http://detroit.curbed.com/archives/2.../casinos-1.php

Interesting article - I think she gets it right. The first time I saw the MGM Grand I was kind of surprised how relatively tasteful it was, the MGM Grand in Las Vegas is pretty awful.

I really like the modernist Greektown hotel tower, too, but it does clash pretty severely with the 80-year old surrounding architecture, not to mention the Brutalist jail next door.

IMO Greektown is by far the worst, because it ruined a perfectly viable urban neighborhood.

Greektown is no longer Greek, and an interesting, quirky neighborhood has been replaced by a trashy atmosphere revolving around the casino, the comps, and the giant free parking garage.

And MGM Grand/Motor City are relatively unobjectionable because they filled dead zones with some semblance of urban activity.

The Motor City looks awful with those STUPID lights. I feel bad for anyone who has to see that garbage from their house.

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Originally Posted by Occurrence

The Motor City looks awful with those STUPID lights. I feel bad for anyone who has to see that garbage from their house.

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Yeah.... all that light kind of ruins the bleak desolation of some of the surrounding area, doesn't it? .... especially when the street lights aren't working... all those bright lights do overpower... :eek:

You must not had some some of those stories written over the years about about how people in the surrounding neighborhoods aren't really happy with the place. They are all poor though and the neighborhoods are mostly crappy, so nobody cares what they think.